Sunday Keys for MainStage 2021: MainStage/Mac Preferences & Optimizations

For you to be confident in your Sunday Keys setup, it's important that you optimize the settings on your computer and within MainStage for your live performance. 

Check out the video or the steps below it to learn more about how to optimize your Mac and MainStage :

Save all patches inside Patch Builder

First off, we recommend that you save all of the patches for any given performance to the browser (inside Patch Builder) so that if you need to undo a change or accidentally delete a patch from your Patch List you can get back to the original easily. This also makes it easy to use these patches in future set lists. Remember, to save a patch select it in your Patch List then hit ⌘E. Choose the MainStage folder, then Patch Builder, and then progress through the folders in Patch Builder to save each patch to the desired location.

Remove unwanted patches from your concert

After saving each of the patches you’ve chosen for your performance we recommend removing all unneeded patches from your concert. MainStage is designed for seamless switching between patches and the fewer patches MainStage has to worry about keeping ready the smoother your performance will be. To delete a patch or a set folder containing multiple patches, select the item in your Patch List and hit the "Delete" key on your keyboard. Don’t worry, patches that are open within your concert are completely independent from patches stored within the browser. If you remove a patch from your concert that you originally loaded from the browser or that you saved to the browser yourself, it will remain in the browser even after being removed from your concert.

You may also decide to keep an extra, universal use style patch in your concert that contains a few of your most commonly used sounds so if you need to cover something unexpectedly you can always count on that patch.

Use MainStage's Perform Mode

During live performance we recommend using MainStage’s Perform mode. To make sure that you’re not interrupted by any distractions or unexpected notifications close all background applications and click the notifications tab in the top right corner of your screen swipe down with two fingers, and turn on do not disturb.

Make Changes in MainStage Preferences

Lastly, there are a few MainStage preferences we recommend you adjust to further optimize for live performance.

To access MainStage preferences, click MainStage in the top toolbar, hover over the word Preferences, then choose General from the menu.

1. Within General Preferences under the word “Startup” where it says Action we recommend you choose “Open Most Recent Concert”. Now every time MainStage opens it will automatically load the last concert you were using. This is helpful, in case you ever need to restart MainStage or if you were to ever have MainStage crash during a performance, because you’ll get back to the concert you were using more quickly.
2. At the bottom of the General preferences tab under “Autosaving” change the “Autosave Modified Concert” setting to “Never”.
3. Click over to the Display tab and under Performance check the boxes for Perform in Fullscreen and “Disable Screensaver in Perform Mode”.

With these preferences optimizations in place you should be set for live performance. As you prepare for your performance, remember that we have videos on the Sunday Keys Resource Article about connecting specific midi controllers like the nanoKontrol2 and the TouchOSC app as well as a video that will show you how to use any other midi controller with Sunday keys so feel free to check those out.

If you happen to have run into any issues connecting your midi hardware or with the quality or responsiveness of your audio signal so far, then we have suggestions that can help. At the bottom of this video page you can view help topics on troubleshooting midi connections and optimizing your computer performance to avoid audio issues or delays. If you are having audio issues, first check out this video about CPU.